Agencies Don’t Understand Radio

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(By Larry Fuss) After 45+ years in radio, I have yet to work with an agency that really understands how radio works. That’s especially true in small markets. I worked with one agency, headed by a graphics artist, that represented a local car dealership. When they did buy radio, which wasn’t very often, they’d send us poorly written copy and ask us to produce it. And of course, they wanted the schedule to start the same day. So much for deadlines.
Another agency we deal with is headed by a guy who does TV production. Although he shoots decent video, he writes horrible copy. And the radio ads he sends are just the soundtrack of the TV ad with such phrases as “check out this new Ford F150 pickup…”  What pickup? Check it out how? I can’t see it on the radio.
Another local agency is headed by a woman who also prints a monthly coffee table publication. If you hire her agency to handle your campaign, guess where the entire budget goes?
Still another local agency is headed by a company that prints a monthly business magazine, a regional magazine, and has a website design company. If you entrust your ad budget to them, very little of it goes to radio. Most of it ends up in print. What a shocker.
One of our own former sales reps, a woman who failed miserably at selling radio, is also in the agency business. She’s a decent photographer, but her graphics design looks like something a 10-year-old would do. And of course she places nothing with our stations because we fired her. So much for what works for the client. She mostly sells a texting service to local businesses. Getting a text with the daily lunch special at the local cafe is kind of nice, but does anybody need a text telling them the local nursery has a new shipment of begonias?
I deal with agencies who want to buy schedules that don’t have enough frequency to be effective. In one case, an agency wanted to run three spots, one a day for three days. I told them I would not sell them such a pitiful schedule. Frequency is what makes radio work. Without frequency, the campaign is doomed.
Many agencies also have an arrogance problem. I had one agency tell me my rate was too high and that I should sell 6 a.m.-6 p.m. spots to their client for less than what my good local clients pay for 6 a.m.-Midnight ROS spots. Sorry, it ain’t gonna happen.
There are many agencies, even big ones, that don’t keep up with their own traffic. They place an order to run May 1 through June 15 and send a spot that’s dated to end May 27.  May 28 rolls around and there’s no new spot. We have to track them down and beg for a new spot, which more often than not, won’t be ready until next Tuesday.
And then there’s the payment issue. Another car dealer hired an agency in Florida. Months would go by and no check would arrive. When we called, they’d say “we never got the invoice.” After several months of that, I sent the invoice by FedEx. Still no payment. When I called several weeks later they again said “we never got the invoice.”  To which I replied, “it was delivered on Tuesday, March 16 at 9:43 a.m. and signed for by Suzy Smith.” They actually had the audacity to say, “please send it again because I don’t have it.” I said “go down the hall and get it from Suzy because I’m not playing this game anymore.”
If agencies want more respect from radio, stop the game playing when it comes to payment, keep up with the traffic for your clients, don’t demand deals better than our local clients get, and learn how to use radio properly.
Larry Fuss is the owner of Delta Radio Network, South Seas Broadcasting, and Kauai Broadcast Partners and can be reached at [email protected]

4 COMMENTS

  1. So many people (not all) in the agency business don’t understand that the purpose of advertising is to sell stuff. That’s way too un-glamourous for them. They want to be “creative!” They especially like to design stuff. That’s why they love print. And maybe TV. A very high percentage of then can not write – an ad, a proposal, a marketing strategy.

    It is our job in radio to beat the living crap out of these people. Write ads for their client’s competitors. Write ads that sell! Create a sonic brand identity. Run high frequency schedules. Study Roy Williams, David Ogilvy and the other masters. And then… these so-called ad agencies won’t matter to you at all.

  2. Perfect… you nailed it Larry. Small and medium size markets have to put up with “fired” reps that didn’t have a clue when they worked in radio and still don’t have a clue. Small business managers and owners will hire anyone to handle their advertising cause they do not want to deal with reps. Especially the untrained, uneducated radio reps.

  3. Small market radio has to be small market radio again as it used to be.
    Stop trying to compete with major market. Major market radio has shot itself in the foot. Look at the ratings
    Go back to doing what made small market famous. Make the audience the star. Get a copy starter book if you cannot write an ad. Be inventive and stop copping everyone just because everyone is doing it.

  4. WOW…I feel like I wrote this! Everything you’ve written here has happened to me, including the former rep who is a decent photographer who now tries to sell her own advertising, but instead of on texts-it’s on a poorly made “news” website she created, which is basically just plagiarized versions of our news and the other local stations’ news.
    The payment issues-“we didn’t get the invoice”…I call BS!! That’s just a standard excuse used A LOT. They clearly don’t care that after a certain amount of time of them not paying, I lose my commission. But-I know they got paid, and on-time I’m sure. In those cases-I go direct to the client and explain the lack of payment-and how it reflects badly on them. Usually, the client is unaware of the delinquency of which the agency pays.
    Oh and don’t get me started on the lack of commitment when it comes to the importance of frequency. It’s almost as if they WANT radio to fail their client so they can then use the excuse “it didn’t work” and waste their money elsewhere.
    Another thing that gets me, is when an out-of-state agency feels as though know more about what is best for a client in my market than I do. I’m sorry, but what’s good for a client in Florida or California is NOT going to work for a client in small market rural Indiana or Kentucky. I think I know my market a little better than an agency in South Florida. And if I don’t, I shouldn’t be in this business.
    Don’t get me wrong, I do have a couple of agencies who I do enjoy working with who “get it”, who take my advice/suggestions for the client and our market. Unfortunately, they are few and far between. There have actually been a couple times where the agency was doing such a bad job with my clients, I went directly to the client and explained how much more they could get for their advertising dollars if they cut out the middle man. They became direct sales. Those clients are much happier now, and grateful for the service they now receive. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I do wish there was a way to hold bad agencies accountable for their actions.

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